Last night I was having a very important IM conversation with my friend Caryn, and she sent me a link:

Nine Depressing True Life Adult Counterparts of Beloved Children’s Books (my favorite is Ramona Quimby, Failed Graphic Designer)

It’s a pretty funny list, and it made me think about how often times, the ending is not enough. A lot of the time when I get to the end of a book, reading the last page is just a jumping-off point for my imagination to wander …

1. Random House, trying something new, is giving away free PDF copies of Charles Bock’s acclaimed novel Beautiful Children. Like every other blogger who has talked about this, I think Random House is doing a very good thing (The Millions blog even asked them to explain why they’re doing it). Bud Parr says the future is here. This latest e-book experiment brings us closer than the Kindle does, at least.

Okay, but what about the book itself?

So I’m at the Hilton Poker Room in Atlantic City last Monday evening, waiting for the late-night Hold’em tournament to start (because that’s my idea of fun). And I’ve got my usual problem — the 500 chip is a light gray blue, the 5000 chip is a light gray, and since I’m color blind they look exactly the same to me. A couple of other color blind players in the tournament have the same problem, but we’re all used to it. There …

Lit-critics and bloggers have been debating whether or not Vladimir Nabokov’s never-seen Laura should be published or burned (as Nabokov had instructed it should be). The public’s verdict seems to be against incineration, but based on the evidence in today’s New York Times Book Review one must guess that Ron Powers votes for the flames. He reviews Richard Wright’s unfinished and apparently Dostoevskian murder-mystery A Father’s Law here, and cannot get past the fact that the unfinished, unedited manuscript is, well, …

Five favorites from African-American literature:

1. Native Son by Richard Wright
Native Son was the first bestseller written by an African American author, and tells the story of Bigger Thomas, an unconventional (and, at least from my perspective, a somewhat unlikeable) protagonist. Bigger, a product of oppressive racism and poverty in 1930s Chicago, kills two women, but despite the fact that he has to pay for his crimes, he experiences a kind of redemption. The genius of Native Son is that it is …

1. Mark Sarvas and his readers have proposed a whole bunch of new types of “lit” (shtick lit, hick lit, quick lit). I’d like to turn the tables and suggest one that’s clearly in the air today: “Lit lit”. These are books about characters obsessed with literature (see Possession by A. S. Byatt). Note that both Mark Sarvas’s upcoming Harry, Revised and Keith Gessen’s upcoming All the Sad Young Literary Men feature images of books on their covers (a …

I’ve just seen a wonderful movie, The History Boys, based on a hit play by British comedian Alan Bennett about a likeable gang of characters in a British prep school. The smartest students in this idealistic working-class school yearn to be accepted at Oxbridge (Oxford or Cambridge University) rather than the more proletarian schools (Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol and Hull) that are their lot by class selection. This film follows their quest for one year.

The students’ hero is a …

1. Filthy Habits, Ed Champion’s new website, seems like the kind of place that’ll allow a writer to stretch. Here’s my first contribution there, an attempt at punditry titled The Politics of Boasting.

2. McSweeneys presents: Famous Authors Predict the Winner of Super Bowl XLII.

3. A useful in-depth conversation on the business of literary translation has been going on between Three Percent, Words Without Borders and The Center for Literary Translation.

4. Going from the sublime …

Ahh, the ethics of book reviewing. I wish I understood them myself.

Ed Champion calls New York Times Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus a “literary lapdancer” for allowing a kissy review of NYT Executive Editor (and recent hatchet man) Bill Keller’s new children’s book, Tree Shaker: The Story of Nelson Mandela to run in this weekend’s issue. I’m half-and-half on this one. On one hand, the reviewer clearly states Bill Keller’s job title, and a full disclosure is …

– The first-ever recording of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl discovered in Oregon.

– Prizewinning author Zadie Smith attacks literary prizes. Yeah.

– More Harry Potter in the future? Maybe.

– A review of a Nabokov biography. Woot.

– There’s soon to be a new eBook publisher out there. It’s currently in beta.

– In related news, er, opinion, eBooks will never be our friends.

– Shot through the heart and you’re to blame, this Jeffrey Eugenides-edited short story collection gives love …